Albert Marth discovered NGC 3186 = m 195 on 25 Mar 1865 and noted "pF, vS, gbM." There is nothing at his position, but a couple of candidates are nearby. The RNGC and PGC identify CGCG 036-085 as NGC 3186. This galaxy is located 20 tsec of RA east and 5' south of Marth's position. Harold Corwin suggests that NGC 3186 may be the northeastern component of CGCG 036-074. This galaxy is 1.5 tmin preceding and 6' south of Marth's position.

In my observation of the field, I picked up IC 602 = UGC 5561 (double system with IC 601) which is located exactly 1.0 tmin east of Marth's position and appears brighter visually than CGCG 036-085. Because this galaxy is only off in RA (by a single minute) it seems to me a better choice than the RNGC/PGC candidate. Stephane Javelle independently discovered IC 602 on 10 Apr 1893 and accurately placed it in list 2-673. UGC 5561 is identified as IC 602 in all modern catalogues. See Corwin's notes for more on the story.

400/500mm - 17.5" (3/25/00): very faint, extremely small, round, ~15" diameter (probably viewed core only), faint stellar nucleus. Located 1.2' SE of a mag 12.5 star. This galaxy is identified as NGC 3186 in the RNGC and PGC but the identification is uncertain due to a poor position from Albert Marth.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb